OFFICIAL: Klopp named head of global soccer at Red Bull, starting in January

OFFICIAL: Klopp named head of global soccer at Red Bull, will be starting on January 1, 2025

The former Liverpool and Dortmund manager Jürgen Klopp is back in the game after being appointed as the new head of global soccer at Red Bull.

“After almost 25 years on the sideline, I could not be more excited to get involved in a project like this,” said Klopp, who begins the role on 1 January 2025. “The role may have changed but my passion for football and the people who make the game what it is has not.”

Reports in Germany suggest his deal with the multi-club organisation, funded by the drinks manufacturer, has a get-out clause that allows him to apply for the German national job once Julian Nagelsmann steps down. Nagelsmann penned an extension to his deal before Euro 2024 and is expected to lead the team to the 2026 World Cup.

Klopp departed Liverpool at the end of the 2023-24 season, after almost eight years on Merseyside. He has remained a visible presence on social media, and was seen at the Paris Paralympics, supporting his close friend New Zealand’s Wojtek Czyz, a badminton player.

At Red Bull, he will be fulfilling what appears a similar function to that Michael Edwards, who worked alongside Klopp at Liverpool as sporting director, now fulfils. Liverpool’s FSG owners have set on a pathway to multi-club ownership.

His appointment is due to be unveiled at a press conference in mid-January 2025, his starting date on New Year’s Day with a Red Bull statement saying: “He will not be involved in day-to-day operations but will oversee a group of clubs that bring the kind of intensity that became his own calling card as a coach.”